


Cops and Robbers

by Insomination



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 09:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8007994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomination/pseuds/Insomination





	1. Polarity

“Amethyst, you really have to stop doing this.” Pearl said, leading Amethyst out of the building.  
“What? Helping people?”  
“No no. I’m fine with you helping people.” Pearl said, walking over to the car. “I am not fine with you stealing from others though.” She said, bending Amethyst over the hood and cuffing her hands behind her back.  
Amethyst shook her hips, grinding up against Pearl. “Damn Pearl. Buy a girl a drink first.”  
“I’ve arrested you 25 times. I think I know you pretty well.” Pearl deadpanned, opening the squad car door and gently pushing Amethyst’s head inside.

Pearl unlocked the cell door, holding it open for Amethyst. Amethyst sauntered in as if she were walking the red carpet. Rolling her eyes, Pearl shut and removed the doors. Heading for the door, she was stopped by a “Hey.”  
Turning, she eyed Amethyst suspiciously. “Come here a sec.” The shorter woman said in an uncharacteristically calm and quiet voice. Unstrapping her holster, taser, and pepper spray, she put them all on the far shelf along with the key. Cautiously approaching the cell door, she waited for Amethyst to respond. The caged woman walked right up to the bars, and whispered something just out of her range of hearing.  
“What?” Pearl asked, bending down and putting her face right up against the bars, breaking about ten different rules in two seconds.  
And that’s exactly what Amethyst wanted. Grabbing the policewoman’ head, she brought their lips together in a space between the bars. It was messy and cramped and awkward, but Pearl let it go on. She had full control of course. She just…didn’t see the harm in this. So they kissed. At least, until Amethyst pulled away and whispered “Dinner on Thursday at my place?” Into the other woman’s ear.  
Trying to regain some control, Pearl sputtered out “W-Well, we’ll see if you’re free by Thursday!” and stomped out of the room, collecting her effects on the way.  
Outside, she took a deep breath and composed herself. Looking over, she saw her partner Garnet sitting at the security desk, grinning ear to ear.  
“Shut up!” She threw at her, before heading back to her desk to get a drink and calm down.  
Amethyst was free by Thursday.


	2. Date Night

Pearl looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. What was she doing? There was no way this was a good idea. Reaching around the back of her dress, Pearl’s fingers found the zipper. Right as she was about to pull, the phone rang. Not wanting to keep the caller waiting, Pearl picked it up and said “Hello?”   
“Don’t you dare take that dress off Pearl.”  
“Garnet?”   
“And get away from your window. I’m not outside your house.”  
“GARNET HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT.”   
“You’re going on this date Pearl.”   
“I don’t know Garnet.” Pearl sighed, sitting down on her bed, her head in her open hand. “We’ve been arresting this woman for three months. That’s a trimester!”   
“Ok. One, never use trimester as a form of temporal measurement again. And two, you need this date Pearl. Ever since Rose, you’ve been living alone. You’re an old cat lady Pearl, but you don’t even have cats! You’re going on that date.” The line went dead. Pearl sighed, knowing full well Garnet would tie her up and drag her to the restaurant if she had to. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

Pearl had to admit, the restaurant Amethyst chose was nicer than she expected. Walking in, she was immediately grabbed by the arm and lead down to a table. Pearl kept her eyes forward, saying “You know I could’ve broken your arm for that right?”   
“This would have been a very short date then. Have a seat.” Amethyst said, pulling out a chair at the table they stopped at. Sitting, Pearl picked up a glass to drink, but instead she just had to focus on keeping it in her hand when she looked up at Amethyst. She was gorgeous, having swapped out her usual burglary outfit for a more elegant dress. Her hair normally tied up in a messy ponytail or bun, flowed over her shoulder in a smooth purple wave. And her neck was adorned with a beautiful necklace holding the stones of her namesake.   
‘Lucky necklace.’ Is what Pearl thought.   
“You look gorgeous.” Is what she said.   
'Well apparently I don’t have control over anything.’ Pearl thought wryly, but that thought quickly passed when Amethyst answered with a short “Thanks.” and buried her nose in her menu.   
Frowning, Pearl asked “Amethyst, what’s wrong?”   
“Nothing.”   
“Amethyst, something is wrong.”  
“Everything’s fine!” Amethyst shouted, slamming her fist on the table like a judge’s gavel.   
Heads turned. Normally Pearl would have cared. But now she was too busy. She waved their waiter away, she hadn’t even opened the menu yet and she was busy anyway. She picked up her chair and brought it around the table so she was next to Amethyst. Putting her hand on the other woman’s shoulder, she said “Amethyst. Please. You have to tell me what it is, or else neither of us will enjoy this night.” She hated saying it, because she felt like she was blackmailing Amethyst with her own misery, but she needed to know what was wrong in order to help.   
“You’ll hate me.”   
“Not in a million years.”   
“You arrest me bi-weekly.”  
“I arrest you because you break the law. I don’t hate you.”  
“…I don’t like wearing these clothes.” Amethyst muttered into her still-raised menu.   
“Huh?”   
“I don’t like wearing these fancy clothes.”   
Uncomprehending, Pearl asked “Well then why did you wear them?”   
“Because I wanted to show you I could be something more!” Amethyst shouted, turning heads again. Pearl didn’t even look.   
“I wanted to show you I could be more than…more than a thief.”   
“Oh Amethyst.” Pearl said. “Thank you. But I’d rather you were comfortable.”   
“Next date then.”   
“Next date huh?” Pearl replied, making sure to not give up too much ground like with the Jail Cell Incident. “We’ll see how this one goes tiger.”

“Wait so you’ve never stolen ANYTHING before?” Amethyst snorted, giving Pearl a disbelieving look.   
“No! Never!” Pearl said adamantly.  
“I’m not talking like Grand Theft Auto or anything, but really? Never even took a thumbtack off a teacher’s desk when they weren’t looking?”   
“No!”   
“…this place has good breadsticks right?”   
“Yes…”   
“Put them in your purse.”   
“What.”   
“This is your first exercise! C'mon. They’re breadsticks. It’s harmless. And it’ll help you get inside a thief’s head if you try it. Here.” Amethyst said, passing some paper napkins over the table. Looking around, she said “Ok. No one’s looking. Do it now.”  
Pearl took a half-second to gaze at Amethyst, before thinking 'Ah fuck it.’   
She took the breadsticks and started wrapping them and putting them in her purse. She finished right as the check came by. Her hand darting out to grab it, she yanked Amethyst to her feet and dragged her to the door.   
“Jeez P what’s up?”  
“We need to leave right now immediately.”   
“Wha?”   
“There’s one sticking out of my bag. It’s poking me in the elbow!” Pearl whisper-yelled at Amethyst.   
Amethyst pretended to crack her neck, rotating it to get a better look at Pearl’s bag.  
“There’s nothing there P.”  
“It’s there! I can feel it!”   
Amethyst pried the check from Pearl’s grip. “I’ll pay.”   
Pearl was too anxious to reply, her previous 'Fuck it’ attitude clean out the window. Amethyst paid and calmly lead them out into the night.   
“You know. That wasn’t bad for literally your first time stealing.”  
“Gee thanks.”  
“I think you should get a reward.” Amethyst muttered, dragging Pearl’s head down to her own level. Leaning in, eyes shut, she kissed Pearl again. But this time Pearl was ready, and she wasn’t going down easy. Their tongues danced for an eternity, but then it ended. Amethyst pulled back, saying “Next date lesson: pickpocketing.” as she held up s napkin-wrapped breadstick. But Pearl could see the blush on her cheeks. She knew. “I’ll call you later.” She said as she turned and headed for her car.   
“You don’t know my number!”   
“It’s on your file!” Pearl called over her shoulder.   
“Damn.” She heard Amethyst whispers to herself, and she couldn’t help the massive grin that split her face.


	3. Pack Rat

Amethyst flopped down on her bed, exhausted but laughing despite. That was one of the best dates she had ever been on. That cop could actually be really funny when she wanted, despite being ridiculously stuck up and arrogant at other times. I guess it just goes to show you that people can be complex beings that can’t be narrowed down into a single characteristic. Chuckling, Amethyst changed back into more comfortable clothes (her pajamas), and went to grab a slice of cake from the fridge.   
As she padded through her apartment, she reflected on a thief’s reputation. Most people would expect her apartment to be filthy and unlivable. But that wasn’t true. You could live in it. You just needed practice. It didn’t help that Amethyst sometimes stole impulsively, not actually needing what she took. So she just threw it somewhere and forgot about it. And so things had quickly piled up. Nothing food-related of course. She had some concept of hygiene. But there were books she never read, movies she never saw, clothes she never wore, and souvenirs to places she never went strewn about her house.   
It didn’t help that she was such a pack rat.   
Just as she cleared off a space to sit on the couch, the doorbell rang. Sighing a mighty sigh of aggravation, she put her cake down on a magazine from 2005 and walked the path over to her door. Opening it, she was greeted by a familiar face. But not exactly a friendly one.   
“Hey Marty. What’s up?” Amethyst asked, not cheered up by who was at the door.   
“Vi found out about this excellent job. Rich bastard. Out on vacation with the wife and kids. Skeleton cleaning crew. Sub-par security system. It should take you like 30 minutes tops. You in?”   
Amethyst flashed back to her night. The way Pearl accepted so easily how uncomfortable she was in fancy clothes. How she had laughed at all the jokes, sometimes just out of politeness, and how adorable she looked when she was scared out of her mind over those breadsticks.   
“I think I’m gonna pass tonight Marty. I’m already in my pajamas and all.”   
Marty gave her a funny look. “Heard you’ve been hanging around with that cop.”  
Amethyst kept her poker face on, even though alarms were blaring like foghorns in her mind.   
“Yeah. Just thought I could see how she worked. Help me dodge her longer.”  
“That’s all?”   
“That’s all.”  
Marty stared at her for another unending second, before shrugging and saying “Clever. Alright, see you ‘round.”  
He turned and started to walk away, but before he got too far he said “Be a shame if we had to let you go.”   
Amethyst knew she was supposed to hear that. Shutting the door, she turned back to the living room.   
She didn’t feel like cake anymore.


	4. Suspicion

Pearl whistled as she walked into the station, swinging her car keys on her finger. She didn’t notice everyone staring at her. Until she caught sight of Garnet’s shit-eating grin.  
“Ok Ok you were right! The date was a good idea!” Pearl half-shouted, swallowing her pride ripping off the bandage fast.  
Garnet only shrugged. Pearl ground her teeth and sat down at her desk. Taking a moment to compose herself, she breathed in for four seconds, then out four seconds. Deciding she was back in control, she opened her eyes.  
And immediately sighed when she saw Garnet’s face, still with the same grin, a foot from hers.  
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she said “You want to hear about the date don’t you?”  
Garnet nodded.  
“It was good. It was great! She was gorgeous in a dress and heels and fancy jewelry but she was uncomfortable in it so next time she’s going to wear what’s comfortable and we laughed and we talked like normal people and not like I was a cop and she was a criminal and I took breadsticks and we kissed in the parking lot and-” she cut off abruptly.  
Garnet had put her finger over Pearl’s mouth.  
“You did what in the parking lot?” She asked, all kidding gone from her voice.  
“Kiss?” Pearl said meekly, suddenly feeling very embarrassed for no reason.  
“Ok. Good. And there’s going to be a second date?” Garnet replied, no emotion detectable through the sunglasses she constantly wore.  
“Yep.” Pearl said with more pride this time, sitting straighter in her chair and staring down Garnet’s shades.  
There was a frozen second of time where neither of them moved. Then Garnet cheered, picking Pearl clean up off the floor with ease and spinning her around.  
“Garnet! What are you doing?!” Pearl said, more than a touch of panic echoing into her voice.  
“I’m so happy you two are together!”  
“Man Gar, it’s not like we’re getting married or anything. We’ve only been on one date.”  
“Pearl, you two have been dating ever since you first arrested her. Hadn’t you noticed it only seemed to be you that caught her?”  
Thinking, Pearl realized she hadn’t ever seen anyone else bring Amethyst in.  
“So when’s this second date?”  
Pearl’s anger-tainted confusion turned to panic when she realized they had never set a date for their date. Her hand was halfway to the phone when Garnet grabbed it.  
“Relax. It’s Ok. You two need to have some private time to yourselves. Ask tomorrow.”  
Nodding, Pearl sat down at her computer, trying not to let her tumultuous emotions show on her face.  
Why had she been the only one to catch Amethyst?


	5. Dam Breaker

Amethyst was eating Doritos and watching Netflix when her phone rang. Grumbling because she had to pause her video and lick off the Dorito powder off her fingers before it could accumulate more, she walked over to the phone. Not recognizing the Caller I.D., she went with a standard “Yeah?” Upon picking it up.   
“Hey Amethyst.”   
“Pearl!” Amethyst immediately regretted her callous greetings. “What’s up?”   
“Can…can you come over? I need to ask you something that’s been bothering me.”   
“Uh, sure.”  
“….”  
“…Where, exactly is your house?”   
“Oh right! It’s uh, 13 Nicholas Road.”   
“Cool. Be right over.”   
The line cut out without a goodbye.

You know what’s worse than that feeling you get in your stomach when someone says “we have to talk” in a negative way and your brain jumps to all the bad things it could be? When it actually is one of those bad things. Amethyst parked her car into Pearl’s driveway and walked up the path to her door. Before she even rang the bell, she could see Pearl worrying at her fingernail, her police uniform changed for more casual clothes. Her thumb hovered over the button. This was almost guaranteed bad. She could turn and leave. Just drive away and not have to hear it. But that would mean not seeing Pearl anymore was her best outcome, the worst being unthinkable. Biting the bullet now was the best option.   
Her finger didn’t move.   
‘Just think of it like you’re punching the doorbell in the face.’  
Her finger crashed into the button, setting off the ringing in the house. She pretended not to see Pearl get up and shuffle over to the door.   
When it opened, Amethyst said “Hey.”, trapped between looking at her eyes and the ground.   
“Why did only I arrest you?”   
“Huh?” Amethyst sharply looked up, meeting Pearl’s eyes.   
“Whenever you were stealing things, you’d always evade us a few days, and then suddenly I’d miraculously catch you off your guard and take you in.” Pearl choked out, trying not to cry.   
“B-but it was always me that caught you off guard. In fact, there was one time I wasn’t looking for you for two weeks,” that was a definite sob “and the day I’m assigned to finding you, the first sweep I make I walk right up to you without you noticing.” Tears were definitely in Pearl’s eyes as she wordlessly stated what she didn’t want to believe.   
“So how was it that I always caught you?”   
Amethyst’s gaze had slowly dropped to the wooden porch. She didn’t lift it.   
A cricket chirped.   
“Tell me it was a coincidence.”  
Nothing.   
“Tell me you were just careless those days.”   
Silence.   
“Please Amethyst!” Pearl was practically shouting now. “Just tell me something!”   
Amethyst couldn’t lift her head to look into Pearl’s eyes.   
That was the dam breaker. Pearl let out a sob she couldn’t hide and roughly slammed the door. Amethyst stood there for an extra minute or two, trying to memorize the sound of Pearl’s voice, even if it was crying.   
Turning, she silently trudged back to her car and drove home.


	6. Talk

Pearl sat on her couch, head in her hands. It had been three hours since her fight with Amethyst, and she still couldn’t sleep.   
The majority of her police career was based on a lie.   
Amethyst had allowed Pearl to catch her. Probably because she thought it would be funny. Let the rookie cop think she was special. Hell, Amethyst even took her out on a date! Just another link in the chain of humiliation.   
Her phone rang. Without even looking, she knew it was Garnet. The woman had a sixth sense she swore.   
She picked up the receiver.  
“Hello?”   
“Are you okay Pearl?”   
“How do you know this stuff Garnet? Seriously, it’s spooky.”  
“What happened Pearl?”   
“…Amethyst. She was…she was just letting me catch her.”  
“What do you mean?”   
“You said it yourself Garnet. I’m the only one who ever brought her in. Did you ever stop to think about why? Because I did. The other officers would search for weeks, and then the first day I go out I miraculously find her. She was insulting me! Treating me like a child! Playing a prank on the rookie officer!” Pearl was screaming, but then her voice cracked and she sobbed once.   
“And…and I went on a date with her. And it was one of the best nights I’ve had. And i-it was all a joke.” Now Pearl was openly crying.   
“It’ll be okay Pearl. This will all work out. I have to go, but I promise you this will work out.”   
The line went dead.

The great part about your apartment being cluttered with stuff you didn’t really care about was that you could destroy as much of it as you want and it wouldn’t matter.   
Amethyst sat down on her couch, huffing and panting. Everything in her living room that wasn’t her couch, TV, table, or carpet had been torn, smashed, crushed, shredded, or broken in some way.   
‘Not even I could live like this.’ Amethyst thought as she looked around her. Sighing, she stood up and got a box of trash bags from hallway kitchen closet.   
It took her 2 hours to clean. But Amethyst didn’t mind. While her hands worked on autopilot, her brain could stay blank and not think about…not think. But time and tide waits for no man, and eventually she was done. Her living room was spotless. She had forgotten what the rest of the carpet looked like.   
‘Pearl would be proud of me.’  
The thought hit Amethyst like a freight train. She sat down on the now-spotless couch and fruitlessly tried to hold back her tears.   
She cried for about half an hour. It was exhausting. Right as she was starting to recover herself, there was a knock on the door.   
“Not now!” Amethyst shouted.   
The knock came again.   
Aggravated, Amethyst trudged over to the door and flung it open, preparing a “Go away!”  
It died before it became an actual sound.   
Standing outside her door was a very tall woman. 6'4" at least. Her hair was black as her shades, and Amethyst could see the glint of brass knuckles on her fists.  
“We need to talk.” Garnet said, stepping into the house and closing the door behind her.


	7. Façade

Amethyst sat on one end of her couch, one icepack on each leg and another pressed up against her back. Garnet sat on the other end, looking around the apartment.   
“This is really clean.” Garnet said. “Almost to the point of bare.”  
“I got rid of a lot of stuff before you showed up.”  
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”   
“Were the brass knuckles really necessary?”   
“I did want to scare you.”   
“Trust me. You could’ve done it without the knuckles.”  
As Amethyst was backing back into her living room, Garnet baring down on her, she had tripped over one of the only pieces of furniture still in the room. The table.   
The glass table.   
To Garnet’s credit, she had immediately dropped the façade and rushed to the bathroom for the medical supplies necessary for the hundreds of microgashes that had now appeared on Amethyst’s back.   
“Alright Amethyst. Time to talk.”   
Amethyst gulped.   
“Why is it that when Pearl answers her phone, she’s bawling her eyes out and talking about how you were the only one who brought her into the station?”   
Amethyst looked down at her feet and the shards of the table on the ground.   
“I could’ve avoided you guys for days. You were louder than elephants in a bubble wrap factory. But Pearl was always…interesting. Physical looks aside, even though they are sublime, she always did things…I don’t know. I can’t say differently, because that’s definitely not true. She followed the book to the T.” Amethyst let out a chuckle only half-humorous. “I bet if the book told her to jump off a bridge, she wouldn’t even do any fancy tricks on the way down.”   
Garnet cleared her throat.   
“Right. Anyway, the way she did things was always intriguing to me. The way she talked and acted. She just seemed like someone I’d want to know. So one day I just thought ‘Screw this’ and let her walk right in on me. And that’s where it all began.”  
Garnet was silent for a while.   
“So, what you’re saying is that you’ve had a creepy, distant crush on my partner, so you let her and only her capture you so you could interact with her in some way?”   
Amethyst was surprised she had caught on so quickly, but nodded her bowed head just the same.   
“Yeah. That’s pr-”   
She was cut off by the door opening. Without knocking, Marty stepped inside and immediately locked his eyes on the pair sitting on the couch.   
“Oh! So you’re getting buddy-buddy with more cops huh?” He shouted at her. “No! Don’t even answer! Forget it! You’re out!”   
He stormed back out of the house, slamming the door behind him.   
“Is that going to be a problem?” Garnet asked Amethyst.   
“Not right now. I was pretty much done with his stupid club anyway. And of course he comes storming in here, takes one look, throws a hissy fit, and then leaves.”   
“Or maybe some author was running out of ideas for a story he liked writing, so he haphazardly threw in a character encounter that would explain why that character was an antagonist in a later chapter.” Garnet replied, cracking her neck.   
Amethyst stared at her.   
“So you really do care about Pearl?”   
“Yes.” Amethyst said with no hesitation.   
“Do you love her?”  
“…I don’t know her well enough for that.”   
“Fair point. But you’ve got to explain yourself to Pearl. She thinks you were doing it all as some sick prank.”  
“But I wasn’t!”  
“Yes. I realize that now. But I’m not the one you should be telling.”   
“Well then let’s go!” Amethyst was halfway off the couch when Garnet’s hand grabbed the back of her shirt.   
“You’re physically injured. And it’s been like 4 hours since your fight. And it’s like 3 AM. It can wait 'till morning.”   
“But-”   
“Sleep.” There was no room for debate.   
Sighing, Amethyst dragged herself over to her room. Stopping in the doorway, she turned around.“  
"I’ll let myself out.” Garnet said.   
She didn’t move.   
“Well, goodnight then I guess.” Amethyst said to the woman on her couch.   
“Goodnight.”


	8. Deafening Silence

Pearl hit the snooze on her alarm for the 8th time. At this point she should really just turn it off, but she was still clinging to the foolish belief she would get up before noon. She rolled over and sighed, staring at the pattern on her ceiling. She was still upset. And angry. And sad. She wasn’t heartbroken. It took more than one date to give someone your heart. But she couldn’t ignore how amazingly that date had gone. There was so much potential. They could’ve been so much. Pearl rolled onto her side and stared at her clock as it ticked through the seconds without really seeing the time. Thoughts like that weren’t good to dwell on.

Amethyst stared at the familiar door she had been standing on the wrong side of just that night.   
“I can’t do this.”   
“You can.”   
“But what if-”   
“She won’t.”   
“But how-”   
“Trust me. She won’t.”   
Amethyst swallow and put her thumb on the doorbell.   
“I’m scared.”   
“That’s Ok.” Garnet replied. “That’s good. That means your taking this seriously.”   
Amethyst didn’t respond.   
“Do you ever want to see her again?” Garnet asked over her shoulder. She had started to walk away.   
Amethyst pressed the button.   
There was shuffling from somewhere in the house. Doors opened and closed. Stairs creaked. Carpets ruffled.   
“Ow! Damn!”   
Amethyst’s eyes widened at the exclamation.   
Pearl opened the door sucking her index finger. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened and her finger dropped out of her mouth.  
They stood.   
“Are you Ok?” Amethyst asked.   
“What?” Pearl was nearly speechless. This woman fools her for weeks. MONTHS. And she just shows up and asks if she’s Ok?  
“I heard you swear. What happened?”   
Oh. “Static charge. I got shocked on the light switch.”   
“Oh. Ok.”  
Deafening silence.   
“Can I come in?”   
“Sure.” Pearl replied, opening the door all the way and stepping to the side.   
Amethyst walked in and looked around. She was nervous and shaky, but she couldn’t help the quiet chuckle that escaped her mouth.   
“I love your place. It’s really clean.”   
“I thought you weren’t one for clean.”  
“I’m not one TO clean.”  
“Oh of course. Silly me.”  
Awkward pause.   
Crunch time.  
“Pearl. I’m here to explain myself.”   
She held up a finger at Pearl’s opening mouth. “I know you want to yell. And you can. You can tell all you want. But you need to hear what I have to say first. Because if you don’t, this could end worse than it already is.”   
Pearl shut her mouth.   
“Thank you.” Amethyst took a deep breath.   
“I know what you thought me letting you catch me was. Garnet came by and told me. But it wasn’t me being a jerk and playing a prank on a rookie cop. The truth is…”  
Dammit Amethyst swallow your pride. What’s pride worth to you compared to her?   
“I had a giant crush on you.”   
Pearl’s face betrayed her surprise.   
Amethyst plowed on.   
“And I know that sounds like some lame made up reason to hide the truth but it’s true! I watched as you followed my tail. You were different in that you insisted on being the same. You always played by the rules. Lots of cops learn the rules, but then throw their own spin on what they do. But you followed the rules to the letter. Down to a T, you did exactly what the book said.”   
She looked down at her feet, blushing. “You stood out by trying to blend in.”  
…  
“It didn’t help that you’re also gorgeous.”   
“Gorgeous?”   
“Yeah! I mean look at me,” she said, gesturing towards her body “and look at you! I’m short and fat, you’re tall and skinny!” Amethyst grabbed her left arm with her right one and turned her head to the side. “You’re a lot better looking than I am.”  
Pearl stared. Then she actually knelt down to be eye level with Amethyst. She gently kissed Amethyst’s forehead.   
“You’re gorgeous too.”   
You could’ve seen the hope in Amethyst’s eyes from across a football field.   
Pearl sighed. “Amethyst. I accept what you said. But I need some time to myself.”   
Pearl quickly backpedalled when she saw the hope in Amethyst’s eyes go out like a doused flame.   
“I’m not breaking up with you! I just…I just need today and maybe tomorrow to myself.”   
“Ok.” Amethyst said, nodding. “That’s Ok. Take as much time as you want.”   
The smile Pearl gave her was worth more than anything she ever stole.   
Well maybe that one snow globe…  
“Thank you Amethyst.” Pearl said as she stood back up. She reopened the door they hadn’t really left. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”   
“Only if you want.” Amethyst said as she stepped outside.  
Pearl smiled at her again as she shut the door.   
Amethyst walked back to her car.   
Garnet was waiting there.  
“Worth it?”   
“Definitely.”


	9. Finale

Amethyst stood back, panting slightly. She was surprised at how fun it was actually being able to see the walls and floors. Granted, she still kept probably way too much stuff that she didn’t need. Come on though. The bug in the glass cube that makes your fingers tingle when you touch it? That’s too cool. She had just finished moving the last cardboard box to the car, and was all set to take it to a donation bin when she heard a knock on the hood of her car. Turning, she immediately choked a little. Pearl was standing there. By the passenger seat of her car. Staring at her.  
She thought about the ragged, paint-stained clothes she was wearing and messy ponytail she had tied her hair into and nearly knocked herself out on the side of her car.   
“Hey.” Pearl broke through her thoughts.   
“Hi.”   
Something needed to be done about these awkward silences. Amethyst was sick of them. If only she knew what to say.   
“It’s been a day or two.” Pearl said, taking a big step toward Amethyst.   
“It has.” Amethyst replies, staying neutral and holding her ground.   
Pearl put her arms loosely on Amethyst’s shoulders.   
“I’ve accepted it.” She says. Barely above a whisper. And she pulls Amethyst into her chest.   
Best. Hug. Ever.   
As Pearl loosens her grip and leans back, she says “I’m ready for that second date now.”  
“Now?” Amethyst half-squeaks, taken by surprise.   
“Yes. Right now. What are you doing?”   
“I’m uhh.. I’m just taking a lot of my old junk to either the Salvation Army or the dump.”   
“Perfect!” Pearl exclaims and jumps back, opening the passenger side of Amethyst’s car and getting in.   
Her door was unlocked this whole time?   
Pearl hit the horn a little. “Come on! Let’s go!”   
Shrugging, Amethyst walked around to the driver’s side, starting the car and buckling in.   
“It’s not going to be particularly romantic you know.” She said, not taking her eyes off the road as she drove out of her driveway.   
“I know.” Pearl answered, “But real life is never really romantic. Doesn’t make it less real.”   
Amethyst grinned as she took the right turn off her street


End file.
